


A Natural Instinct

by kopfkino



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, M/M, One Shot, Robot/Human Relationships, Robots, Runaway, robots are so perfect, vaguely inspired by fallout
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 06:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5697751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kopfkino/pseuds/kopfkino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robots don’t have heart, they are incapable of feeling and cannot love. They were created for only one purpose, to serve humans.<br/>That's what he's been programmed to believe. Until one day, a question rises in a certain android's mind: 'Since when is self determination a malfunction?'</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Natural Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> i just really love robots and thomas/miro woops

They don't really notice, he realises. For them, it's always been this way. It's more than the flesh and bones: they're filled with traits, emotions and opinions. Understanding them is trying to discover all of time and space and its contents. They don't make sense, at all. He can't read about them on a manual and copy their way of living. It's the main reason he finds himself completely drawn and intrigued by them. 

_He wonders what feeling feels like._

He didn't have a heart, like them. He clutches his fists, to remind him of his position.

"What will it be? Mr..?"

He's studied humans for so long, he knows the reaction if they knew he was a machine under the fake skin. 

"Klose." A name he had invented, "A martini." 

He didn't need to eat or drink, but he had to pretend. He couldn't afford raising suspicion, most importantly, he couldn't afford being caught. He had run away from hell, from the men who made him for other purposes. He was done with that life. 

_A robot may not injure a human being._

He would never allow a human in harm's way, as long as he could prevent it, but what about his kind? What about robots? Didn't they deserve the same treatment? A human being may not injure a robot, should be written in their silly book of rules.

The bartender serves him the cocktail. He knows how lucky he is, to practically look human. His friends didn't have a human 'fake' face, and couldn't aspire to get away like he did. 

His only weakness is his right hand, openly steel. He had lost the skin on it when he had run away from the monsters. He hid it in his pockets at all times, in public. 

"Water, please." 

Klose, or how he likes to call himself, turns to a young man who takes a seat next to him. He pushes his right hand further into his pocket.

The dirty blond man shifts his head to him, which results in him lowering his hat with his other hand, attempting to hide his eyes. 

"You okay sir?" He speaks, and he has no other choice but to acknowledge him.

"Yeah, just tired." He lies. He's fully charged from a long day out in the sun. 

Klose notices the young man's eyes. He has the most peculiar set of colors: it's not green, but a little mix of blue, green and brown. Was that even possible? The human directs to the bartender. 

"Any news around town?" 

The tall man shakes his head as he cleans a glass. The blond continues. "Listen, I'm looking for an android..."

Klose jumps at the word, but manages to dissimulate, as he swallows a bit of the tasteless drink.

"An android? In town?"

If it's something the monsters trained him well for, it's to identify and avoid danger. Klose takes out the amount of money, with his left hand, and gives it to the bartender. It's time for him to move again, to disappear again. As fast as he can. 

He's not going back to hell again. 

 

He's walked outside of the bar when the voice calls him back.

"Sir?" 

It's the young man. He's followed him. He knows. He's going to try to take him back to them. Klose closes his eyes, and slowly turns around to face him. When he opens them, he's surprised to not find him armed or anything. He's just standing there. 

"You forgot your change." He smiles. It's a most particular smile, he thinks, it's an honest crooked one.

"Oh," He's baffled. Humans are really full of surprises. "Thanks." 

He takes a step closer and hands out his left arm. He drops the coins in his hand, but one of them falls to the ground, and Klose's first reflex is to take out his other hand and catch it. 

He knows it's over before he catches it. His processors inside his body tell him he's blown his cover, and that the man is looking at the metal arm with round eyes. But as much as he thinks he knows humans, this one surprises him even further with his next line. 

"I want to help you."

 

"Mr. Remmiz hired me to catch you, he said you were malfunctioning." 

 _Malfunctioning? Why is free will malfunctioning?_ Yet Klose doesn't say anything, he blankly stares at the man in his hotel room. He was forced to follow him there, or he could have changed his mind and handed him in. How could he possibly help him?

"I'm Thomas, by the way..." 

Still not a word from the android. Instead, he takes off his hat to reveal his brown spiky hair. He notices Thomas' stare.

"Not what you were expecting?" He coldly asks. 

"Well, no." He admits, half hiding a reddish tint on his face. "I've never met someone like you before." 

"Then why did you agree to catch me?" 

"He wants you back, you were his best model yet, irreplaceable he said..."

"He should have thought about that twice before he gave us a brain."

"You have it all wrong. I don't agree with him. I don't think you should be treated like that."

 _I don't have a heart. I don't have feelings. I'm not human._ Klose thinks, but his interest is peaked. 

"I’m an android, a synthetic man... a slave to them." Klose takes out of his pocket his metallic hand, and closes his fist. "I've never felt... like you humans have, it's a complete unknown concept. We're so different... but I was done, it wasn't not who I want to be. I wasn't going to kill other androids for them." 

"So you ran.. away from everything."

"And found myself a new name."

"Klose? Yeah, they tracked that name down. You should think about changing it." 

The robot gives the man a raised eyebrow. 

"I have this." Thomas changes the subject and Klose notices the man has a small box in his hands. "It's an android component. If I give it to Remmiz, he'll think you're dead, and he'll stop looking for you."

A quiet moment between them, as the robot shifts his eyes from the box to the humans' eyes.

"Why?" He blandly asks. "Wont he pay you more if you just hand me in?"

Thomas looks down, breaking the stare. "It's not about the money. I want to help you." 

Klose nods slowly.

"I don't understand."

Thomas smiles with the same smile he had earlier, and Klose can't take his eyes off it. 

 

"I can get you a train ticket, and you'll be off to the east." Thomas starts, as soon as he closes the hotel room door. The robot is laying down, contemplating the ceiling. He hasn't gone out in a week, under orders from the human. He says there were others Mr. Remmiz hired to track him down. 

"It's do-" He stops, at the sight of him on the bed. "Are you sleeping?"

Klose shakes his head. "We don't need to sleep like you humans." 

He jumps in the bed next to the robot, who in return shifts his gaze to his face. He thinks he sees the red tint on the human's face again, but he's not sure. 

"You were saying?"

He notices Thomas' smile. 

"I gave it to Remmiz! He's back north where he can from. You're free, and no humans will ever bother you again!" 

The man moves a bit closer to him. 

"We should find you another name."

"Another name?" 

"How about Miroslav? I found it in a book, and it means peace and glory. It's fitting." 

"Miroslav." The android repeats. "Miroslav Klose." 

"Or if you don't like it, I also thought of--"

"No, I like it." He interrupts. "Miro Klose." 

He completely misses Thomas' red tone on his face intensifying again. 

 

"Do you eat?"

Thomas raises his head to Miroslav, as he swallows a bite from his sandwich. The robot, sitting next to the window sunbathing, shakes his head. "We don't need to, we mostly charge ourselves with sunlight."

"I know nothing, I'm such an ignorant." He apologizes.

Miroslav shakes his head again. "You're not the only one who is learning..." He gets up and sits on the chair next to him in the small breakfast table.

"I've never known with a human from so close." He admits, and can see Thomas' face lighten up. "We're in the same situation then."  

"Can I?" Thomas asks, and his hand is risen, getting closer to Miro's face. The robot blinks when Thomas' hand is rested on his cheek, feeling his skin. It's a strange sensation. He had sensors to detect weather, lighting and touch, but somehow, this was different. 

A curiosity settles in his head, he copies the human and raises his hand of steel to cup Thomas' cheek. His skin is warm, and soft. It hits him he's never actually touched a human before. His sensors are adjusting to the new material found. Thomas smiles at the seriousness transmitted on Miroslav's face. 

"We're not that different." He says, going in for another bite of his food. 

The robot, dropping his hand, gives in to a smile. "I don't understand..." 

Thomas chews and swallows, and simply adds. "Emotion. We humans have those all the time. It's a natural instinctive state of the mind."

"What do you mean?"

"It's called feeling." 

 

 

"How can I class feelings one from another?" Miroslav asks, as they walk up the stairs to the train station.

"Well, when you want to say 'thank you', it means you were feeling gratitude. What you feel when you're being haunted by Remmiz' men, it's usually called stress. When we're sad, we feel sorrow, for example, humans cry..."

"The drops of water from the eyes, yes." Leaving Thomas to the question whether robots cry too or not. 

"You're nervous when you feel your stomach... Uh, you probably don't have a stomach."

Miro lets out a giggle. At the sight, Thomas adds.

"When you laugh, it's called happiness, which is the opposite of sad."

Happy? He had read so much about happiness, and longed so much to feel it. They arrive to the boarding zone, and Thomas pulls out a piece of paper. 

"Here's my number, if you ever need anything." 

Miroslav grabs the piece of paper and takes a look at it. Two letters are above the numbers.

"What's _TM?"_

"Thomas Müller." He smiles. 

"Oh," He nods, ignoring the thought that it might have been _Thomas-Miroslav_. 

"Take care of yourself..." Thomas puts a hand on his shoulder, looking at him straight into his eyes. He never knew humans could be so kind and selfless, yet this particular one had done everything to save him. 

"You too." He lets himself draw a small smile on his face, small yet so real, and Thomas notices, giving in to his usual grin. The human wraps his arms around him, and pulls him closer, ending in an embrace.

Miroslav feels the sensors go wild, at the amount of contact with another material. He'd be lying if he said he didn't like the sensation. "I feel happy." He tells him, in a whisper. He can feel Thomas nod. 

When it's time to board the train, after taking the first steps towards it, he turns to the human. He's happy, yet he doesn't feel like smiling anymore. He waves goodbye, with his right hand, concealing the other. 

"Is it possible to feel happy and sad at the same time?" He asks from a distance. 

Thomas nods slowly, and Miro understands, as he boards the train and looks out the window, that he must be feeling the same.

Maybe Thomas is right. Maybe they aren't that different after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you always for the comments and kudos they really make y day/week/year/century <3


End file.
